Pay it forward

I was coming out of the bank in gorleston on friday last week,after hopefully putting in the last amount of money i need to for mortgauge,bills etc (house hopefully completes in 10 days) and i saw a young ish bloke looking in a shop window shaking and valiantly holding onto a paper cup of coffee,,i saw in the doorway a sleeping bag,old quilt and a small bag of whatever,,i stood next to him and proceeded to ask a few general questions,,after our little chat i gave the lad some money,saying to him get what you need to get you through the next couple of days, anyway as i was walking away a older gentleman who saw me doing this came over to me as i was walking to my car and asked what i gave him,,i didnt tell as it was nobodies business but mine (and the recipient)..Anyway we were having a chat and he was asking questions of me as to what do i do for a living,am i rich? HAHA and i told him through fits of laughter my situation,,selling house,not much work this year etc etc,But the lad needed money more than i did,,anyway he said he needed a driveway doing on his house and would i like to have a look,,i told him i was moving away (into a MH and travelling europe etc) but he said come and have a look anyway,,,i obliged as it was local and his wife made a lovely cuppa ! Anyway he asked me to quote him on what i would want for the job (block paving about 40 sq mtrs,taking up and skipping old concrete etc) I was about to tell him the price( £2,000)and he said hang on i will show you something,,he proceeded to show me 3 quotes he had from local builders ranging from £3,000 to £4,500) Now this was a perfect oppertunity for me to make more money than my original thought !! But i didnt,(i sleep welll) and told him it was £2,000 anyway,materials came to £950 including a skip,and £1050 for labour (4 days) Now i have just finished and all is good,he is very happy and so am i,i have money to see me through till completion and he saved money,,,anyway he said to me in his kitchen as i was having my final lovely cuppa I wouldnt have even spoken to you if i hadnt see you give that money to that homeless lad,and i wanted to do something for you !!! I was quite touched,,,so is it true?? What goes round,comes round????

Nice story. That extra cash will buy a few litres of diesel for your trip.
Just to let you know, I have 5 children, my wife has left me, I have an un-paid tax bill, the dog has to go to the vets, roof on tent is leaking, if you are in North Essex anytime ??
You seem such a nice man

A bad day at the beach is better than a good day at work. (For those of you that are not retired )

Nice story. That extra cash will buy a few litres of diesel for your trip.
Just to let you know, I have 5 children, my wife has left me, I have an un-paid tax bill, the dog has to go to the vets, roof on tent is leaking, if you are in North Essex anytime ??
You seem such a nice man

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I will buy a 7 berth,pick you all up on the way to the ferry and take you all to disney ! Merry christmas !

To be honest people, it just makes me feel a bit better about life when you can help someone,,im sure we all have done something for someone with no thought of profit,and felt good afterwards !! Example.........Im looking for a MH and many have offered help to look at etc,,,and even travel,,,amazing...

When I was in Glasgow a while back, I used to see a young homeless lad by the station. Can you spare a few pence for a cuppa tea mate, he used to say to everyone. So one day, particularly cold, I thought to save him the long walk I would buy him the tea he craved. Here you go mate, stay put and here is the tea. Feeling good, I started off then got "don't want ya fu@@in tea ya bass. Charming. Clearly wanted money for other things. Can't please everyone. Still felt good.

Sadly my eldest son (RIP) was an alcoholic and nothing pleased him more than to be given money. It is very hard and counter-intuitive, but the worst thing you could have done was to pander to his "needs" (I'm not saying that all homeless folk have drug problems).

In Norwich, and I think lots of other places, you can buy tickets which can be exchanged in local shops for food and/or "safe" drinks, toiletries etc. However, I know from bitter experience that ANY donations can allow someone to offset their addiction costs.

Helping folks like my late son is not easy: I don't think the latest cuts to mental health budgets will reduce the number of troubled people that we see on the streets. Gordon

PS We supported him in every way we could, including providing housing, food, clothing etc BUT when we discovered that he was also stealing from us, we had little option but to make him stand on his own 2 feet. During the following 12 months he lived with, and stole from, all of his friends and ended up living on the street. Eventually we got him into supported living with a housing association but even there he lied and cheated, continued drinking, and finally died. Some people are able to learn from their situation and the help they receive, from whatever source, can result in their lives being turned around. I shall never give up hope for others, but knowing how to help them is difficult: currently we are donating to Shelter.

Im sorry rapido,for the loss of your son, I would like to say that when i give some money to someone i really dont or cant feel the need to tell them how to spend it,,,i was in a position years ago where i was homeless for a while,and if anyone gave me anything i was just gratefull.... If that means that the money i give goes on drugs,alcohol or whatever they decide to spend it on or whatever they need to get through the night then thats their decission,,i dont want to dictate what they do with it,,everybody has a choice !!